Finding ways to improve

Sorry this post is so much later than the race.  I've been getting home late this past week and getting to this blog hasn't been my top priority.

Here we are again but with continuing problems with video uploading.  I'll try to tell the story without video but instead with concise descriptions of photos.  This was good week of racing overall.  Lian had some good laps but didn't better her record.  She did show good strong average times for her heat races and the Feature.  There were only ten racers in her class at the track this week so they all ran together.  Her performance in the Heat races only gained her a 8th place start in the feature.  She finished 9th.

Below is a sequence of photos that shows the competitors entering the tight, right-hand turn called the "hairpin" by most club members.  Notice where each positions his or her kart prior to turning into the hairpin.

First the leaders:







Notice how they are to the far left of the track.  Below, the subsequent racers follow suit.









Here, you can see the Third place racer, really hugging the left edge.
















Same with Fourth place...













and Fifth place...











and Sixth thru Eighth place follow suit.  Lian is just exiting the turn prior in this picture.













Here you can see her entering the turn just ahead of the last place kart.  She is hard to see but if you look at carefully, you can see her kart just about centered in the track using a completely different line to approach this turn.

We will be focusing on this corner next race.  I hope that we can find some real improvement by changing her approach.  I was also compelled to buy new tires before next race.  Although there was useable tread left after the feature, a friend with a durometer (a device that measures tread hardness) checked them and found that they have hardened significantly since new.  The harder tires are not as sticky and their competitiveness is reduced.  

I'm also going to make another rear sprocket change to up the RPM a little more.  The last change got us up to 5,540 RPM and I understand that we should get up to 5,700 to 5,800 RPM.  I'm planning to go from a 64 tooth to a 66 tooth gear.  I'll let you know how that goes.  

Thanks again for reading!